Chicken & Carrot Congee

I've been blogging about food for some time but have never thought of blogging about baby food.  That is until someone asked me to share some baby food recipes too.  Here's my very first baby food recipe.

One of the most common food for babies in this part of the world, is porridge.  I prefer cooking congee (a thicker, less watery version of porridge).  Cooking congee the traditional way on the stove is very time consuming and needs lots of attention, especially when the congee reaches a rather thick consistency.  Once you let the congee burn, even if it's just a little at the bottom of the pot, the whole pot of congee will have a burnt taste.  Not good.....

However, in our modern world, cooking congee is a breeze.  I use a rice cooker which has a "Congee" setting!  Here's how easily healthy, nutritious homemade congee can be cooked for your precious baby:

Chicken & carrot congee for baby

Ingredients:
Rice (I use mixed unpolished rice)
1 clove of garlic, whole and with skin on
1 piece of carrot, cut into thin strips
1 piece of chicken, minced
light soya sauce
white pepper

1. Wash the rice and add it to the rice cooker pot.  Add water as specified by your rice cooker instructions in order to cook congee.  Add garlic and carrot strips to the rice cooker pot and start the rice cooker on "Congee" setting.
2. Season the minced chicken with a little light soya sauce and white pepper.
3. When the "Congee" cooking cycle has completed, add the minced chicken to the rice cooker pot and give the congee a quick stir.  Start the "Congee" again.  Once the 2nd "Congee" cooking cycle has completed, add a little light soya sauce to the congee.
4. Remove the clove of garlic and serve warm.  Be very careful to cool it sufficiently so as not to burn baby while feeding.

**NOTE**

I like to run the "Congee" setting twice in order to get a thicker, more mushed up congee as my little one doesn't have any back teeth yet.

Never Ending Mess

Just last night, someone asked me why I sleep so late?  Well.... now that little one is bigger and sleeping way less than a newborn baby, there's not much chance to do serious chores during the day.  Other than nap times (which is when I scramble to prepare baby's meals as well as mine), little one now demands much more attention, whether it's playing together, going for walks or just being there to make sure he doesn't destroy anything and hurt himself in the process.  So the best time to do serious chores is when everyone goes to bed.

While everyone was sleeping last night, I quickly mopped the house like I was trying to set a new Guinness Book Record.  The faster I am, the more I'll get to rest afterwards, right?  Wrong..... just when I thought I could lie comatose on the sofa with some crappy TV programme for a few minutes, "Click click!", the washing machine says.  So off I went trying to set another Guinness Book Record hanging up the clothes to dry.  After setting 2 records, surely I can go to bed now..... nope..... I recall that I promised to make some pillow covers for someone some time back and I haven't even started yet!  After measuring and cutting cloth, I finally thought that enough was enough and retreated to the bedroom for some "me time" -- aimless surfing, checking Facebook updates etc on my mobile while lying down.   Zzzzzz....

Fast forward to this morning.  After all that hard work last night, my house should be in quite a good state, right?  WRONG AGAIN!  Little one decided that 5+am was a good time to wake up and proceeded to take all his toys (which were neatly kept the previous night) and dump them all on the floor!  By about 6am, my house was in a mess again..... Honestly, I wonder why I bother to clean up sometimes.  It hardly stays neat/clean for more than half a day...... never ending mess..... sigh....